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Causes and health consequences of environmental degradation and social injustice

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  • Donohoe, Martin

Abstract

Worldwide the greatest effects on the health of individuals and populations results from environmental degradation and social injustice, operating in consort. This paper describes the national and global causes and health consequences of these phenomena. Causes include overpopulation, pollution, deforestation, global warming, unsustainable agricultural and fishing practices, overconsumption, maldistribution of wealth, the rise of the corporation, the Third World debt crisis, and militarization and wars. Consequences include increased poverty, overcrowding, famine, weather extremes, species loss, acute and chronic medical illnesses, war and human rights abuses, and an increasingly unstable global situation that portends Malthusian chaos and disaster. Because of their scientific training, and due to their privileged socioeconomic status, physicians are in a unique position to recognize these phenomena and to act at all levels, from interactions with their patients, to volunteerism, to service and intervention in areas of great need, to direct political activism and involvement. Specific suggestions for action are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Donohoe, Martin, 2003. "Causes and health consequences of environmental degradation and social injustice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 573-587, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:56:y:2003:i:3:p:573-587
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    Cited by:

    1. Palivos, Theodore & Varvarigos, Dimitrios, 2017. "Pollution Abatement As A Source Of Stabilization And Long-Run Growth," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 644-676, April.
    2. Gamze Sart & Yilmaz Bayar & Marina Danilina & Funda Hatice Sezgin, 2022. "Economic Freedom, Education and CO 2 Emissions: A Causality Analysis for EU Member States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-14, June.
    3. Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag & Hamid Rastegari Kopaei & Dacinia Crina Petrescu, 2021. "What Drives Landowners to Resist Selling Their Land? Insights from Ethical Capitalism and Landowners’ Perceptions," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-21, March.
    4. Sulemana, Iddisah & James, Harvey S., 2014. "Farmer identity, ethical attitudes and environmental practices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 49-61.
    5. Natalia Korcz & Jacek Koba & Agata Kobyłka & Emilia Janeczko & Joanna Gmitrowicz-Iwan, 2021. "Climate Change and Informal Education in the Opinion of Forest Users in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-14, July.
    6. Acheampong, Alex O. & Opoku, Eric Evans Osei, 2023. "Environmental degradation and economic growth: Investigating linkages and potential pathways," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    7. Lori Hunter & John Reid-Hresko & Thomas Dickinson, 2011. "Environmental Change, Risky Sexual Behavior, and the HIV/AIDS Pandemic: Linkages Through Livelihoods in Rural Haiti," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 30(5), pages 729-750, October.
    8. Vanderlinden, Lisa K., 2009. "German genes and Turkish traits: Ethnicity, infertility, and reproductive politics in Germany," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 266-273, July.
    9. Olalekan John Taiwo & Hezekiah Daramola Olaniran & Tolulope Osayomi, 2012. "Perceived causes, exposures and adjustments to seasonal heat in different residential areas in Ibadan, Nigeria," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 405-414, December.
    10. Onanuga, Olaronke & Onanuga, Abayomi, 2014. "Economics of the Environment and Infant Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 83323, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Ronald S. Zalesny & William L. Headlee & Gayathri Gopalakrishnan & Edmund O. Bauer & Richard B. Hall & Dennis W. Hazel & Jud G. Isebrands & Louis A. Licht & M. Cristina Negri & Elizabeth Guthrie Nicho, 2019. "Ecosystem services of poplar at long‐term phytoremediation sites in the Midwest and Southeast, United States," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(6), November.
    12. Kabiru Kamalu & Wan Hakimah Binti Wan Ibrahim, 2023. "Conditional Effect of Environmental Degradation and Institutional Environment on Human Development in Developing Countries: Evidence from Method of the Moment-Quantile Regression with Fixed Effect," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(5), pages 667-677, September.
    13. Horacio E. Rousseau, 2017. "Corporate Sustainability: Toward a Theoretical Integration of Catholic Social Teaching and the Natural-Resource-Based View of the Firm," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(4), pages 725-737, November.
    14. Josephine Adekola & Moira Fischbacher-Smith & Denis Fischbacher-Smith & Olalekan Adekola, 2017. "Health risks from environmental degradation in the Niger Delta, Nigeria," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(2), pages 334-354, March.
    15. Elvers, Horst-Dietrich, 2005. "Umweltgerechtigkeit (Environmental Justice): Integratives Paradigma der Gesundheits- und Sozialwissenschaften?," UFZ Discussion Papers 14/2005, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    16. Yarnall, Kala & Olson, Mira & Santiago, Ivonne & Zelizer, Craig, 2021. "Peace engineering as a pathway to the sustainable development goals," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).

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